In this report, The Kochi Post analyses the foreign trips undertaken by the Ministers of the previous UDF government in Kerala. The Ministers went on as many as 205 foreign trips during the government’s 5-year-term.
M.K. Muneer tops the list by taking 32 trips abroad when he was Minister of Social Welfare and Panchayat in the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government. Of his trips, 27 were personal ones. His official trips were to the UAE, South Africa, China and Dubai.
Former Labour Minister Shibu Baby John is next on the list. He has been on 27 foreign visits, while serving as a Minister. He has been on 12 official visits to countries including Singapore, Germany, South Africa and The Netherlands.
P.K. Kunhalikutty has been on 25 foreign visits while serving as the Minister for Industries and Information Technology. His official visits have been to Dubai and Qatar.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has undertaken only 6 foreign visits during his term in the UDF government.
C.N. Balakrishnan, who was the Minister of Co-operation, Khadi and Village Industries as well as Pollution Control, has not made a single foreign trip during his term.
Late T.M. Jacob, who died in office while he was Food Minister, and P.K. Jayalakshmi, Minister for Welfare of Backward Communities, had undertaken one trip each. Mr. Jacob had been on an official trip to the U.K. Meanwhile, Ms. Jayalakshmi had been to Nepal on an official trip.
K. Babu, former Minister of Fisheries, Ports and Excise, and P.J. Joseph, former Irrigation Minister, have undertaken three trips each.
Here are the figures for the other Ministers – P.K. Abdu Rabb (10), Adoor Prakash (10), A.P. Anil Kumar (21), Aryadan Muhammad (4), K.B. Ganesh Kumar (8), V.K. Ebrahimkunju (13), K.C. Joseph (20), K.M. Mani (5), K.P. Mohanan (15), V.S. Sivakumar (7), Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan (11), Anoop Jacob (9), Manjalamkuzhi Ali (5), and Ramesh Chennithala (7).
The data has been taken from an official document. The details are given below.
Travel Details.docx by The Kochi Post on Scribd
Main Photograph by Augustus Binu [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
